front or rear drag?

[The Diamond Geezer]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve Burke:

As to the original question, front or rear drag, I can see there are pros and cons of each. My own preference, for the sort of fishing I do, is for a rear drag as I find it easier to adjust when playing a fish on the clutch. Of course that's what the rear drag was invented for.

 

In other words it's a matter of individual preference. There's therefore no "right" answer - and we all ought to take this into account when composing replies.

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Well, Prez’s original question was

 

I was wondering what was better on a fixed spool reel - front drag or rear drag? I've been told that mechanically front drag is better and more reliable.

 

What do you think?

 

Steve Burke wrote:-

 

As to the original question, front or rear drag, I can see there are pros and cons of each. My own preference, for the sort of fishing I do, is for a rear drag as I find it easier to adjust when playing a fish on the clutch. Of course that's what the rear drag was invented for.

 

In other words it's a matter of individual preference. There's therefore no "right" answer - and we all ought to take this into account when composing replies.

 

 

Once again, I cannot agree with Steve because, backwinding, finger pressure etc., aside, technologically (i.e. mechanically) there is a better, or even best, way of doing things. If this wasn’t the case, we’d make no progress on many fronts for example, we’d all still be using drum brakes instead of disk brakes on our cars or fishing with bits of wood, string and a bent pin.

 

To me “better … mechanically” when referring to reel drags means better from a number of aspects. The efficiency and effectiveness of the drag is determined by a number of factors and is constrained by a number of others, not least, the cost.

 

The number of drag washers, their surface area, their material of construction and the drag compression mechanism all combine to make a better drag, mechanically. There are also physical constraints in that it is very difficult to build-in a drag system of sufficient size for many freshwater applications (bait-runners excepted) at the rear of the fixed-spool reel.

 

For this reason it is easier to build better (mechanically) drag systems with smoother, stronger drags and adjustment when the drag is in front of and/or built into the spool.

 

As far as the ergonomics are concerned, it seems to me that a rear-drag set-up is better, so you can see that, like many things in life, the drag mechanisms on fixed spool reels are a compromise, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no “better” or “best” way of doing things (mechanically); it’s just that the several constraints, mostly cost, conspire against the “perfect” reel, in the same way that they do against the calibre of “better”, “best” or “perfect” rods, or trace wires for that matter.

 

So, technologically (i.e. mechanically) there is usually a better or best (available technology -- BATNEEC for short) way of doing things, but of course, personal preferences win-out in the end, but only over what’s available at the time. Going back to the analogy of brakes on cars, some peeps do of course yearn for, or indeed own, old vehicles with cable-operated drum brakes, that are slow, noisy and inefficient and fun. So who wants to have their front disk brakes removed and replaced by drum brakes? Exactly! F1 cars of course, use carbon-fibre brakes (and many other carbon-fibre components) because it’s the best available technology .. at the moment!

 

So, what I would say in conclusion and in answer to Prez’s original question, is that in my opinion (as a former research & development, and technology-transfer bod involved inter alia in the development of carbon-fibre), yes, a front-drag mechanism is potentially better mechanically than a rear-drag set-up.

 

And then there's fixed-spool reels with centre-drags ....

 

Richard

 

[ 26. July 2003, 05:02 PM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]

[The Diamond Geezer]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve Burke:

......... we all ought to take this into account when composing replies.

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P.S. .... and practise what we preach !

 

[ 26. July 2003, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]